Miami shuts down Hanlan, pulls away from Boston College

Published: Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 02:41 AM.

GREENSBORO — Motivated to stop the hottest name from first-round action, Miami’s Shane Larkin took it upon himself to shut down Olivier Hanlan.

Larkin did just that — with some help — and led the Hurricanes on the offensive end, playing the key role in a 69-58 victory against Boston College in a quarterfinal game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Friday at Greensboro Coliseum.

Miami (25-6) — the league’s regular-season champion — moves into a semifinal matchup against North Carolina State at 1 p.m. today. The Hurricanes beat N.C. State 79-78 on a last-second tip by Reggie Johnson in the only regular season meeting between the teams, which came in Raleigh.

Hanlan, a freshman coming off a 41-point show against Georgia Tech, had Larkin in his face from the opening tip, with Miami’s Durand Scott and Rion Brown also taking some possessions to guard the league’s Rookie of the Year.

GREENSBORO — Motivated to stop the hottest name from first-round action, Miami’s Shane Larkin took it upon himself to shut down Olivier Hanlan.

Larkin did just that — with some help — and led the Hurricanes on the offensive end, playing the key role in a 69-58 victory against Boston College in a quarterfinal game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Friday at Greensboro Coliseum.

Miami (25-6) — the league’s regular-season champion — moves into a semifinal matchup against North Carolina State at 1 p.m. today. The Hurricanes beat N.C. State 79-78 on a last-second tip by Reggie Johnson in the only regular season meeting between the teams, which came in Raleigh.

Hanlan, a freshman coming off a 41-point show against Georgia Tech, had Larkin in his face from the opening tip, with Miami’s Durand Scott and Rion Brown also taking some possessions to guard the league’s Rookie of the Year.

“Forty-one points (Thursday), 14 Friday,” Larkin said, summing up Hanlan’s game. “So it was a great team effort, he’s a great player and I’m glad we could hold him.”

Larkin’s offensive highlights mostly came in the second half, when he scored 15 of his 20 points. The 6-foot-11 Kenny Kadji (15 points, 11 rebounds) provided an inside presence and Trey McKinney Jones added 12 points for Miami.

The Hurricanes made 16 of 23 shots in the second half, solving a three-quarters court press and 2-3 matchup zone that threw Miami out of a decent rhythm it had to start the game.

“At halftime we made the adjustment of putting Kenny Kadji in the high post, telling Shane and Durand once you cross midcourt you have to be quicker into the offensive set and attack more off the dribble,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “Both guys did that and Shane was able to get some 3s that way and Durand was able to get to the basket as well.”

Miami jumped out to a 21-8 lead and flustered Boston College in the first 12 minutes. Then the Eagles switched defenses and grabbed a 27-25 lead by halftime.

“We just stayed together. It’s easy to get down on yourself, we were up 13 points, 21-8 and they came back …,” Larkin said. “We could have easily got down on ourselves and started yelling at each other and fought some between teammates but we just stuck together.”

Although Boston College (16-17) extended the lead to as many as five in the second half, Miami proved to be too much down the stretch. The Hurricanes made their last six shots and went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final five minutes, outscoring Boston College 19-8 in that time.

Patrick Heckmann led Boston College with 15 points, while Hanlan and Ryan Anderson each scored 14 points.